Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatric Care

Author(s):  
Siobhan M. O’Neill ◽  
Jiaying Ding ◽  
Gowri G. Aragam

Religion and spirituality are important dimensions of human experience, dimensions that many patients would like to discuss with physicians in their medical and psychiatric care. Data support the benefits of such discussions, but few physicians routinely engage patients. Lack of time, experience, and training are cited as the main barriers. This chapter summarizes the rationale for including exploration of religious and spiritual issues in psychiatric care. Including the spiritual dimension of patients’ lives and understanding their religious beliefs and practices increases our potential to be of greater service to our patients, to grow ourselves, to provide better care, and to achieve better outcomes. In this chapter we address the barriers and describe an experiential training seminar for psychiatry residents as one of the solutions.

2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 283-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold G Koenig

Religious and spiritual factors are increasingly being examined in psychiatric research. Religious beliefs and practices have long been linked to hysteria, neurosis, and psychotic delusions. However, recent studies have identified another side of religion that may serve as a psychological and social resource for coping with stress. After defining the terms religion and spirituality, this paper reviews research on the relation between religion and (or) spirituality, and mental health, focusing on depression, suicide, anxiety, psychosis, and substance abuse. The results of an earlier systematic review are discussed, and more recent studies in the United States, Canada, Europe, and other countries are described. While religious beliefs and practices can represent powerful sources of comfort, hope, and meaning, they are often intricately entangled with neurotic and psychotic disorders, sometimes making it difficult to determine whether they are a resource or a liability.


Author(s):  
Adibah Binti AbdulRahim

ABSTRACT Secularism is the most serious challenge of modernity posed by the West. Its main ideology is to liberate man from the religious and metaphysical values and expel religion from the practical aspect of man’s life. It clearly presents its materialistic viewpoint which is cut off from Divine, Transcendent or Supernatural principles and does not refer to and is isolated from Revelation. In terms of its intensity and scope as well as its discernable effects upon people’s mind, the repercussion of secularism is so pervasive and universal. It gives a great impact on every facet of life including individual and family lives as well as educational, political, economic and social-cultural realm. Most importantly, secularism affects the very tenets of traditional religious beliefs and practices. This paper tries to focus on the danger of secularism and its principles which are contradict to the religious worldview.  


Author(s):  
Adrian Curtis

Knowledge of the religion of ancient Syria has increased significantly in recent years thanks to key archaeological discoveries. Particularly important have been those from Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), which may offer the best window available for an understanding of Canaanite religious beliefs and practices. Excavations have revealed structures of religious significance, such as temples, sanctuaries, and tombs, as well as numerous texts. Of special interest are those mythological texts which tell the exploits of Baal, El, and the other great gods. There are also legends, sacrifice lists, pantheon lists, and prescriptions for various rituals. Some of these, notably the legends of Keret, and of Danel and his son Aqhat, provide evidence for beliefs about the religious status and significance of the king. This material enables a more considered understanding of ideas and practices that may have impacted upon Israelite religion.


2011 ◽  
Vol 199 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Poole ◽  
Christopher C. H. Cook

SummaryThe extent to which religion and spirituality are integrated into routine psychiatric practice has been a source of increasing controversy over recent years. While taking a patient's spiritual needs into account when planning their care may be less contentious, disclosure to the patient by the psychiatrist of their own religious beliefs or consulting clergy in the context of treatment are seen by some as potentially harmful and in breach of General Medical Council guidance. Here, Professor Rob Poole and Professor Christopher Cook debate whether praying with a patient constitutes a breach of professional boundaries in psychiatric practice.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Kim Harding ◽  
Abby Day

In Great Britain, “religion or belief” is one of nine “protected characteristics” under the Equality Act 2010, which protects citizens from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. This paper begins with a discussion about a 2020 ruling, “Jordi Casamitjana vs. LACS”, which concluded that ethical vegans are entitled to similar legal protections in British workplaces as those who hold philosophical religious beliefs. While not all vegans hold a philosophical belief to the same extent as Casamitjana, the ruling is significant and will be of interest to scholars investigating non-religious ethical beliefs. To explore this, we have analysed a sample of YouTube videos on the theme of “my vegan story”, showing how vloggers circulate narratives about ethical veganism and the process of their conversion to vegan beliefs and practices. The story format can be understood as what Abby Day has described as a performative “belief narrative”, offering a greater opportunity to understand research participants’ beliefs and related identities than, for example, findings from a closed-question survey. We suggest that through performative acts, YouTubers create “ethical beliefs” through the social, mediatised, transformative, performative and relational practice of their digital content. In doing so, we incorporate a digital perspective to enrich academic discussions of non-religious beliefs.


2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yashika J. Watkins ◽  
Lauretta T. Quinn ◽  
Laurie Ruggiero ◽  
Michael T. Quinn ◽  
Young-Ku Choi

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Dini Farhana Baharudin ◽  
Suhailiza Md. Hamdani ◽  
Marina Munira Abdul Mutalib ◽  
Mohd. Zaliridzal Zakaria

Previous studies show strong relation between religion and marital satisfaction. However, there are still lack of study that looks into this area from the Malaysian context, especially among the Muslims. This paper will explore connections between religion and transformational processes in marriage. Transformational processes refer to processes that occur in marriage relationships that do not require outside or professional intervention, especially when an issue or conflict arises in marriage. The methodology of the study utilizes a qualitative approach. Purposive sampling comprising of five Malay Muslim couples whose age of marriage is more than ten years were interviewed. Findings show that specific Islamic religious beliefs and practices are related to the maintenance of relationship for a married couple. The findings highlight the importance for a marital counselling approach which integrates naqli and ‘aqli knowledge that supports the clients’ needs. ABSTRAK Kajian lepas menunjukkan perkaitan yang kuat antara aspek-aspek keagamaan dengan kesejahteraan dalam hubungan pasangan berkahwin. Walau bagaimanapun, masih kurang kajian yang meneroka tentang perkara ini dalam konteks Malaysia, khususnya dalam kalangan orang Islam. Kertas ini akan meneroka tentang kefahaman agama dengan proses transformasi dalam perkahwinan. Kefahaman agama dalam kajian ini mencakupi kepercayaan dan amalan keagamaan. Manakala, proses transformasi dalam perkahwinan pula merujuk kepada proses-proses yang berlaku dalam hubungan perkahwinan yang tidak memerlukan intervensi secara professional daripada luar, khususnya apabila berlakunya isu atau konflik dalam perkahwinan. Metodologi kajian adalah menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Sampel bermatlamat melibatkan lima pasangan Melayu beragama Islam yang usia perkahwinan mereka melebihi sepuluh tahun. Temubual berstruktur telah dijalankan dan dapatan menunjukkan kefahaman beragama iaitu kepercayaan dan amalan Islam adalah berkait dengan pengekalan hubungan sesuatu pasangan dalam perkahwinan. Dapatan ini menunjukkan kepentingan untuk menggunakan intervensi kaunseling perkahwinan yang mengintegrasikan ilmu naqli dan ‘aqli yang dapat membantu menyokong keperluan klien.


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